A documentary about my life and recent work

1960

Born in Tehran, Iran

I was born to a comfortable life in Tehran. While being fairly studious, I Spent my free time either mountain climbing or dudeling graphics.

1976

Moved to Kansas City, Missouri U.S.A.

At the age of 15, I moved to KC and lived with an American family named Everitt while attending Southwest High School. In high school I was advanced student and was taking courses at local community college in evenings and during the summer.

In high school I experimented with jewelry making, and later on with photography which I followed for years, and later on set up a black & white darkroom.

1978

University of Kansas

At KU I studied Architecture and Sculpture. In the early years I was forced to drop Sculpture as a major in order to facilitate my parents transferring money from Iran after the revolution. In 1984 I obtained a Bachelors of Environmental Design and a Bachelors of Architecture.

During the last few years, Elden Teft who was the dean of Sculpture School offered me a job at the department to stay active in the field. My work included drawings for a book being published by Sculpture Research Center regarding Ceramic Shell Casting, helping in teaching introductory courses and assisting on the model phase of statue “Moses” which is now completed and in KU campus.

1984

Carmichael-Kemp Architects, Los Angeles, CA

After moving to Los Angeles, I joined Carmichael-Kemp Architects. A firm specializing in schools. At Carmichael-Kemp I gained valuable experience in all different phases of a project from conception and funding through construction and occupancy. This was the time that Personal Computers were born. I was very interested in the science, and at the office I created programs to perform funding calculations for State funding (ie. Student Enrollment Projections, Area Calculations, etc,). We were the first office to submit documentation generated by computer.

In this period I started putting my own PCs together, and to learn its application in graphics. in 1987 I put a package together called “Building Information System” for Pacific Bell Headquarters in Los Angeles. The packaged allowed their Real Estate group and Maintenance to access building mechanical, plumbing and electrical information without any computer knowledge.

1988

Jensen-Brucker, Los Angeles, CA

In 1988 there was a fire at one of the mid rises of downtown LA, and shortly after City passed ordinance requiring life safety upgrades to all midries buildings. Pacific Bell’s Headquarters was the first building to comply and Jensen-Brucker had received the contract. They were aware of the work I had done on the Building Information System for the building and asked me to head the project for them, which I did, and successfully completed.

1989

Established own practice

In 1989 I obtained my Architectural License from State of California, and with my brother established Maleki & Maleki a design/built firm. The architecture work was concentrated in Telecom projects, and design/built projects were mostly residential and light commercial projects.

Few years before it became popular in the market, I designed and build a series of 12 Volt halogen lights fixtures for our office.

1994

Established Key Architects

After my brother’s move over seas, I sat up Key Architects providing architectural and consulting services. The architectural work consisted of full spectrum of services (Programing, Space Planning, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, Agency Approvals, Construction Observation, Closeout and Post Occupancy reviews). Typical projects included office spaces, telecom facilities and retail centers. Consulting work was basically in two arenas, one was CAD work and 3D modeling, and the other consisted of due diligence reports on large properties for investors.

During this time I maintained a shop/studio where I spent majority of my free time making all kind of things such as polymer injection machine, electric bicycle, light fixtures, furniture, paintings and sculptures.

2007

Move to Iran

Having been away from family for a long time and foreseeing the forth coming economic downturn, I closed my practice in Los Angeles, and moved to Iran to spend time with family and pursue art full time.

In an orchard 40 miles from Tehran I renovated an old building, sat up a painting studio and a workshop outside and spent the next few years at orchard painting and making things. In 2011 I had a painting exhibit in Tehran.

2012

Move to Tehran

I moved to Tehran and setup a shop/studio to make what ever I needed for my place that I was redoing, and also to start making equipment for bronze casting.

2016

Move to current studio

After finishing building of the furnaces, I moved the studio to a larger location outside of Tehran where I have been working on bronze and aluminum pieces for the past few years. All the work is entirely done in house, and no part of the process is farmed out.